Barack Obama being heckled in Florida
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said that he is against offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, which has put him at odds with some black groups and leaders. He argued that the government should instead combat the legacy of slavery by improving schools, health care and the economy for all.”I have said in the past — and I’ll repeat again — that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed,” the Illinois Democrat said recently.
This is at odds with what some two dozen members of Congress have undertaken as co-sponsors of legislation to create a commission that would study reparations — that is, payments and programs to make up for the damage done by slavery.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People supports the legislation, too. Cities around the country, including Obama’s home of Chicago, have endorsed the idea, and so has a major union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Obama has worked to be seen as someone who will bring people together, not divide them into various interest groups with checklists of demands. Supporting reparations could undermine that image and make him appear to be pandering to black voters.
Yesterday while giving a speech in Florida, he was heckled by three young black men, who asked what will he do for the black community. My position is simply this–Obama is running for the President of the United States, not the President of the Black United States. So, let’s get a grip and face the facts as they are. He cannot effect sweeping changes for every issue that affects and confounds Black America. Black America must do a lot of those things for itself–stand up to the gangbangers wreaking havoc in the inner cities, pay more attention to what your kids are doing, instead of saying they are good kids when they break the law; pay attention to your children’s education; take your right to vote seriously and do so; stop crying racism when there was none. We have fought too long and hard for the efforts of our forefathers to go down the drain. Yes, there are racists acts perpetuated on blacks everyday, but there are also instances in which people are crying wolf.
Some may say that Obama is pandering to the white vote in his opposition to reparations and an apology, but this is not a position he adopted just for the presidential campaign. He voiced the same concerns about reparations during his successful run for the Senate in 2004. The reality is that there is enough flexibility in the term “reparations” that Obama can oppose them and still have plenty of common ground with supporters.
The NAACP says reparations could take the form of government programs to help struggling people of all races. Efforts to improve schools in the inner city could also aid students in the mountains of West Virginia, said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau. The National Urban League — a group Obama is to address Saturday — avoids the word “reparations” as too vague and highly charged. But the group advocates government action to close the gaps between white America and black America.
The House voted this week to apologize for slavery. The resolution, which was approved on a voice vote, does not mention reparations, but past opponents have argued that an apology would increase pressure for concrete action. Obama says an apology would be appropriate but not particularly helpful in improving the lives of black Americans. Reparations could also be a distraction, he said. My sentiments exactly. In my opinion, what good is an apology, when the people who inflicted such pain and denigration on blacks are dead? The reality is that some of the very people touting the resolution are doing so, not because of a deep conviction for what this right, but because it will make them look good to their constituents and colleagues. While they are on this “goodwill” campaign, let’s not forget the American Indians and what happened to them and continues to dog them everyday. So, Barack Obama, if he prevails in the fall, he will, undoubtedly, rub some blacks the wrong way by not “helping” them in whatever they need and will be called a “sell-out.” Just my thoughts, you be the judge…..
Filed under: Apology, Barack Obama, Reparations, slavery
Black Political Thought 